JRC Management Meeting, 17 July 2012 1

Challenges and opportunities – a perspective from the Commission's in-house science service

Geraldine BarryEuropean Commission, Joint Research Centre

geraldine.barry@ec.europa.eu

ESOFJuly 2012

Joint Research Centre (JRC)Serving society, stimulating innovation,

supporting legislation

JRC Management Meeting, 17 July 2012 2

Direct research: JRC is the European Commission's in-house science service and the only DG executing direct research; providing science advice to EU policy.

… is to provide EU policies with independent, evidence-based scientific and technical support throughout the whole policy cycle.

Serving society, stimulating innovation, supporting legislation

JRC’s Mission and Role

JRC Management Meeting, 17 July 2012 3

JRC Institutes

• IRMM – Geel, BelgiumInstitute for Reference Materials and Measurements

• ITU – Karlsruhe, Germany, and Ispra, ItalyInstitute for Transuranium Elements

• IET – Petten, The Netherlands, and Ispra, ItalyInstitute for Energy and Transport

• IPSC – Ispra, ItalyInstitute for the Protection and Security of the Citizen

• IES – Ispra, ItalyInstitute for Environment and Sustainability

• IHCP – Ispra, ItalyInstitute for Health and Consumer Protection

• IPTS – Seville, SpainInstitute for Prospective Technological Studies

• Established 1957• 7 institutes in 5 countries• 2828 permanent and temporary staff in 2011• 1356 scientific publications in 2011• 245 key elements of support to the EU policy-maker in 2011• Budget: €369 million annually, plus ~ €60 million earned income

Structure of the JRC

JRC Management Meeting, 17 July 2012 4

• Europe 2020

The JRC focuses its activities to provide needed scientific support to the Europe 2020 policy priorities.

• Key competence areas

- energy and transport - environment and climate change - agriculture and food security - health and consumer protection - information and communication technology - safety and security (including nuclear)

• Cross-cutting and multi-disciplinary approach

• JRC collaborates extensively with Member States, industry and the science community in the EU and internationally

Key priorities

JRC Management Meeting, 17 July 2012 5

Making the EU’s electricity grids smarterThe JRC has identified and analysed the vulnerabilities of Member States’ electricity transmission systems for the implementation of the Directive on Critical European Infrastructures.

INSPIRE: Harmonising environmental data worldwideThe JRC is the technical and scientific coordinator of INSPIRE, the Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe, which provides the knowledge needed for mitigating natural and man-made hazards to make more efficient use of natural resources, to better protect the environment and to adapt to climate change.

Sustaining European Soil The JRC has developed robust databases supporting the European Soil Thematic Strategy and as a result created three soil atlases - unique collections of maps illustrating the varying patterns of different soil types occurring across Europe. One of the resulting outputs is the first ever European Atlas of Soil Biodiversity.

Support to EU policies

JRC Management Meeting, 17 July 2012 6

New developments in nanotechnology The JRC provides science and research-based policy support for improving regulation of nanotechnology. In February 2011, the JRC released the world's first certified reference material for nanoparticles, based on industry-sourced materials, and has recently released a second. Moreover, in October 2011 the JRC contributed to the European Commission recommendation on a new common definition of nanomaterials.

Detecting GMOs in food and feedThe JRC provided the ’’Compendium of Reference Methods for GMO analysis’’, a reference report listing 79 GMO detection methods validated according to international standards in support of the Regulation on official food and feed controls. In addition the JRC hosts the the EU Reference Laboratory on GM Food and Feed (EURL-GMFF).

Nuclear forensics support to Member StatesThe JRC supports safeguard authorities by providing environmental sampling and measurements techniques that are essential in the detection of non-declared nuclear activities. The JRC ‘clean lab’ is used for the measurement of uranium enrichment in particles founded in ‘swipes’ taken by IAEA or Euratom inspectors across the globe.

Support to EU policies

JRC Management Meeting, 17 July 2012 7

Responding to crisesGDACS (the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System) provides near real-time alerts about natural disasters around the world. In addition, the JRC provided support to rescue operations by carrying out a rapid damage assessment based on the analysis of very high resolution satellite imagery.

Real-time crop monitoringThe JRC provides technical support related to food access and need, including real time monitoring of crop conditions, quantitative yield forecasts and identification of hot spots in Europe and wordwide where crop yields could result in food/feed insecurity.

European Flood Alert System and European Forest Fire Information SystemJRC provides essential information to prepare for floods in Europe by complementing data on national hydrological services with novel flood forecasting information up to 10 days in advance. EFFIS comprehensively addresses forest fires in Europe providing EU level assessments from pre-fire to post-fire phases, thus supporting fire prevention, preparedness, fire fighting and post-fire evaluations.

Support to EU policies

JRC Management Meeting, 17 July 2012 8

In addition to its institutes, the JRC works with over 1 000

public and private organisations, institutions and expert groups in more than 250 major networks worldwide, with the aim to

• Foster knowledge transfer

• Share best practices

• Bridge together science and industry

• Gather stakeholders to support policy

• Put science into standards

JRC’s networks

JRC Management Meeting, 17 July 2012 9

“Science communication unit of theEuropean Commission”

JRC Management Meeting, 17 July 2012 10

Challenges

Content

Medium ofcommunication

Audience

JRC Management Meeting, 17 July 2012 11

Opportunities

Content

Medium ofcommunication

Audience

JRC Management Meeting, 17 July 2012 12

Web: www.jrc.ec.europa.eu

Contact: jrc-info@ec.europa.eu

Thank you for your attention!

Joint Research Centre (JRC)Serving society, stimulating innovation,

supporting legislation